We are the inventors of a device which we have named the Ion Collider.TM. on which we filed a patent application Ser. No. 08/350,849 in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Dec. 7, 1994. On Jan. 27, 1995 our assignee Universal Environmental Technologies Inc. filed a patent application under the provisions of the Patent Cooperation Treaty directed to the use of an Ion Collider for treating liquids and gases to beneficially alter their physical characteristics.
Oil wells are either "flowing" wells or wells that require a "down hole" pump to bring the crude oil to the wellhead. Flowing wells flow because the underground reservoir of oil and gas is under sufficient pressure to force the crude oil up the well's string of tubing to the wellhead. In wells without sufficient reservoir pressure to flow naturally, it is common practice to lower an electric or mechanical pump "down hole" to the reservoir of crude and pump the oil up the tubing string to the wellhead.
Many oil wells, both flowing and those served by a "down hole" pump, are plagued with slow flow, clogging and expensive periodic maintenance of the well caused by deposits of paraffins and other waxes carried in most crudes. These paraffins and other waxes tend to deposit on the walls of the tubing and when a "down hole" pump is used, on the pump and pump rods to slow or even stop the flow of crude to the surface. To restore proper recovery of the crude, it has been necessary to cease operation and pull the pump and rods for cleaning or resort to frequent expensive "hot oiling" or chemical treatment of the well.
One method of reducing the harmful deposit of paraffins which has had some success is described in Walker U.S. Pat. No. 4,789,031. Walker screws a gas anchor onto the suction end of the "down hole" pump. Walker's gas anchor is made of a crystalline alloy of specified percentages of certain named metals and its construction forces crude oil being drawn into the pump to first flow through a chamber within the gas anchor. Walker says that use of his gas anchor significantly reduces corrosion of pump parts, rods and the tubing string. Tests run on several wells in Liberty County, Texas located above reservoirs of crude oil about 9,000 feet beneath the wellhead showed that use of Walker's gas anchor reduced but did not eliminate the harmful deposit of paraffins.